This blog highlights how applications built around DWF can do more than what can be done just using paper. The blog covers the building (architectural/electrical/construction), manufacturing, and infrastructure (e.g., GIS, telecommunications) industries.

March 13, 2007

Autodesk Design Review 2008: Building Tour Wheel

In a previous blog article, I provided an overview of new features in Autodesk Design Review 2008. I followed this up with an article about the 2D Navigation Wheel. This posting is a similar follow up that provides additional information for the Tour Building Wheel. The content in this blog posting is a "mutation" of the information you will find in the Autodesk Design Review 2008 help file created by Chris Blocher, Jonathan Geary, and Kim Schaefer of the Technical Publications group at our Ithaca, New York office.

The Tour Building Wheel contains tools used to conduct a virtual walk-through. This is particularly useful to the Architectural, Electrical, and Construction (AEC) industry. The Tour Button wheel is divided into sections referred to as wedges. Clicking in a wedge activates functionality identified for that wedge. The Building Tour Wheel is a tracking menu that contains four wedges. The Building Tour Wheel saves you time and clicks by combining these four tools on a single interface:

Wedge

Description

Usage Steps

Forward

Move the camera forward within the model.

When you click and hold the Forward wedge, a target sphere is displayed on the surface or object under the mouse pointer. The target sphere only appears when the mouse pointer is over an object or surface on the model. When the pointer is not over geometry, there is no reference for the camera to move toward. You drag the mouse upward to move the camera toward the target sphere. A vertical slider provides an indication of how far from the start position the camera has been moved. You release the mouse button to exit the Forward tool after you have moved the camera the desired distance.

Look

Turn the camera to look in any direction without moving the camera.

You click and hold the Look wedge. The mouse pointer changes to the Look Tool.You then drag the Look Tool in any direction to point the camera in that direction. When done, you release the mouse button to exit the Look Tool. You can change the speed at which you look within a model when using the Look Tool. The Look Tool must be active to change the movement speed. Press comma (,) to incrementally increase the speed of the Look Tool. Press period (.) to incrementally decrease the speed of the Look Tool. Any movement rate changes you make while using the Look Tool will be in effect when you use the Walk Tool on the Full Navigation Wheel.

Rewind

Return to a previous view.

You click and hold the Rewind wedge. The mouse pointer changes to the Rewind Tool and a series of thumbnails is displayed. A new thumbnail view is created each time you release the mouse button when using a Steering Wheel. You move the Rewind Tool over the thumbnails. As you do so, each of the views is displayed on the canvas. You can click the Rewind wedge once to rewind a single view only. You release the mouse button to return to the desired view.

Up/Down

Change the elevation of the camera within the model.

Simply click and hold the Up/Down wedge. A vertical slider is displayed. You drag the upward to increase camera elevation, or downward to decrease camera elevation. If you are viewing a model of a multistory building, the Up/Down tool will pass through floors and ceilings. You release the mouse button to set the camera elevation.

With a little practice:

You can start with a 3D model:

You can move in and navigate through a window:

Once inside you can view the objects therein and even take measurements:

Having one file format that can house all of your project data, in one file, for all of your project members, that can be shared across the entire life cycle of your project offers advantages for the AEC industry. The ability to navigate this data in an AEC-specific way allows DWF to go beyond the paper.